


Multi-layered Bandages

by ki_wi



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, Gay Panic, Injury, Injury Recovery, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24106462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ki_wi/pseuds/ki_wi
Summary: Tiso is saved from death, and refuses to be enamored by his savior's kindness.
Relationships: Quirrel/Tiso (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 129





	Multi-layered Bandages

**Author's Note:**

> GAY people. smth i wrote for my boyfriend <3

White flakes spun around in his field of vision, dizzying him every passing moment, assisting not his already withering, beat up, dying state. Blood continued to seep out of him, and he swore on more than one occasion he had run completely dry. How was he not dead yet, he inquired? He would be soon, that much was true, but why did it have to be so… agonizingly slow?

Tiso did hope to live, but he supposed if he were to die he wanted it to be over with quickly. Valorous warriors don't die slow and painful deaths, after all. They go out with glory, with honor, with magnificence, with last words that shake one to their core…

…So why wasn't the way he was struck down along those lines? For what reason was he still alive?

……..

Was he… not one of them after all?

Ah, he sighed, dread washing over him in the instant that he realized that. The tension in his body caused by that of the burning pain left him, causing him to slump even when he thought he could no more. All the times he bragged about being great. All the times he told others of his splendor. It was… all for naught, huh?

"…Wh… why…?" he muttered weakly, a single tear creeping down the side of his face. 

His sight began to fade into darkness more and more as the seconds ticked by excruciatingly. Death's figure was hovering right above him. Quite literally, it seemed. Dying really does fuck with someone's vision, after all.

Death spoke to him, or maybe to themselves, he didn't know. And though Tiso couldn't make out the exact words, one thing in particular stood out to him practically immediately.

Death… had such a hauntingly kind voice. 

***

Tiso… awoke? To a new environment. He was alive? Living? Swiftly, he realized the place he was in wasn't where he was shriveling up just now. Did he die? Was he in another life?

This would soon prove to be not the case, as upon jolting up, immediate pain coursed through him and caused him to gasp sharply. 

"Oh! You certainly seem to be awake. Please, take it easy on your poor self!"

Huh? Death's voice?? WAS he actually dead??? He turned confused to the source of the voice, which had come from right beside him. 

It belonged to that of a humble looking pill bug, a worried yet kind and welcoming expression engraved on his face as he grabbed gently Tiso's closer shoulder. He flinched at the contact, but he kept his soft grip. 

"Lay back," he urged, though gently. "I haven't finished tending to your wound."

Tiso looked down, noticing white bandages wrapped around the area where he was…

He shuddered, not wanting to think on it whatsoever. 

It was clear that there was more than one layer of bandages wrapped around him, and it felt a little constricting in his weak state. Looking just behind and beside the pill bug who resumed wrapping, he noticed a pile of those same bandages, though completely soaked in his blood, as well as some medicinal herbs. He must have been out for a while.

Tiso turned his attention back to the pill bug, who hummed quietly yet delightedly as he worked. He looked at him with a sort of reproach. Something about this just didn't seem right to him. Something was off, and he was alarmed at being treated with such earnest kindness. "Alright, alright," he spoke, pushing back the other bug as he made ready to stand. "You're too kind and all, but I have to-"

𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵. An even worse pain than the one he awoke with flooded him all over. He let out a pained sob as he fell right back to his knees, where the pill bug tried to lay him back against the rock, panicked. "Please, do not stand! You're in no condition to-"

"Shut 𝘶𝘱." Tiso scowled, untrusting, and tried to stand again. 

He was pushed back against the rock, forcefully, feeling a tighter grip on his shoulder. As he opened his eyes from his wince, he noticed that the other bug was 𝘸𝘢𝘺 too damn close to his face.

"Please, I'm not going to ask you again..." his voice had suddenly hardened, but was laced with a sort of sweetness.

"Do not stand, my friend. You'll reopen your wound…"

Tiso's breathing hitched. 

Holy 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵.

He could do nothing but obey, impressed, relaxing back against the rock, much to the relief of the pill bug who quickly resumed bandaging as if nothing happened.

Tiso couldn't stop looking at him, even though the other didn't spare him another glance. They sat in silence, aside from the mysterious bug's innocent humming, and Tiso observed him the whole way through.

"That should do it for the time being…" the pill bug finally said with a tired sigh, dusting his hands. "Though I do predict that you won't be actively moving for a while. I'll look after you until then." 

That fact seemed to snap Tiso out of his daze. No active movement means no combat, and if he can't do that, then who even is he?

"Oh! I suppose I should introduce myself, it would be silly of me to be the one caring for you without telling you my name. I'm Quirrel, I was called to this corpse of a kingdom not long ago, and I happened to find you as I was about to depart from it." he chuckled, offering his hand to shake.

Tiso took it, pausing for a bit to take in how it felt before proceeding with the intended action. 

"Might you tell me your name?"  
"…Tiso."

"Ohhh!" Quirrel exclaimed. "I do believe I have a friend who knows you. A small fellow they are..."

"…"

Tiso observed his face a little longer as he spoke on. Was he intimidated by this Quirrel? Suspicious? Intrigued? 

…Enamored?

INTRIGUED. He swore to himself that was all it was. Nothing more. 

A small yawn could be heard, and Tiso snapped out of it once more as he noticed, really noticed, that Quirrel looked incredibly tired. 

"I have been tending to you for much of this day now… and I'm quite depleted."  
"I would figure as such…" Tiso remarked.

"Lend me your shoulder for a while?"

Tiso tensed up again, his eyes widening as if he was panicked. Quirrel didn't seem to notice, and if he did he didn't care to address it. "Uhm… yeah. Sure…" He ended up obliging. "But this doesn't mean I'm going to trust you."

"I never asked for you to do such." Quirrel responded, and shuffled rather quickly beside him for someone who claimed to be exhausted.

The pill bug seemed to collapse against his shoulder, causing Tiso to flinch once again. Quirrel nuzzled closer against him to make himself comfortable before allowing himself to begin dozing off. No words were exchanged, and Quirrel passed out in almost no time.

And left poor Tiso awake, all alone, to undergo the gayest panic.

**Author's Note:**

> as i am writing this note i am on the verge of passing out i literally just finished writing this and proofread it once and i'm fuckinmmmmm tired


End file.
